Flashback – Five days to Ashley's 16th birthday.
Lorenzo held Ashley's hand, helping her sneak out of her room through the window. Together, they ran out of the compound, laughing—knowing her aunty would think she was still inside her room.
With her sixteenth birthday just days away, Lorenzo had planned a pre-birthday outing. But knowing Charlotte, she'd rather run ten streets naked than allow such a thing. She forbade Ashley from having friends or socializing, and Ashley still didn't understand why.
Still, she and Lorenzo had been secretly seeing each other for some months now.
At first, Ashley had thought Charlotte was simply trying to protect her from the world's cruelty—until the day she seized her phone and started bringing home some of her manwhores, advising Ashley to mingle with them. That was when she realized Charlotte was just a pathetic psychopath.
